Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-14T23:22:29.015Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cattle and rainfall affect tick abundance in central Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2017

FELICIA KEESING ,
RICHARD S. OSTFELD ,
TRUMAN P. YOUNG  and
BRIAN F. ALLAN
FELICIA KEESING*
Affiliation:
Program in Biology, Bard College, Annandale, New York 12504, USA
RICHARD S. OSTFELD
Affiliation:
Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, New York 12545, USA
TRUMAN P. YOUNG
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA
BRIAN F. ALLAN
Affiliation:
Department of Entomology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Program in Biology, Bard College, PO Box 5000, Annandale, NY 12504, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

East Africa is a global hot spot for the diversity of ixodid ticks. As ectoparasites and as vectors of pathogens, ticks negatively affect the well-being of humans, livestock and wildlife. To prevent tick infestations, livestock owners and managers typically treat livestock with acaricides that kill ticks when they attempt to feed on livestock hosts. Because of the costs of preventing and mitigating tick parasitism, predicting where and when ticks will be abundant is an important challenge in this region. We used a 7-year monthly record of tick abundance on large experimental plots to assess the effects of rainfall, wildlife and cattle on larvae, nymphs and adults of two common tick species, Rhipicephalus pulchellus and Rhipicephalus praetextatus. Nymphal and adult ticks were more abundant when there had been high cumulative rainfall in the prior months. They were less abundant when cattle were present than when only large wild mammals were. Larval abundance was not affected by the presence of cattle, and larvae did not appear to be sensitive to rainfall in prior months, though they were less abundant in our surveys when rainfall was high in the sampling month. The challenges of managing ticks in this region are being exacerbated rapidly by changes in rainfall patterns wrought by climate change, and by overall increases in livestock, making efforts to predict the impacts of these drivers all the more pressing.

Keywords

ticklivestockRhipicephalusKenyaectoparasiteclimate
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 145 , Issue 3 , March 2018 , pp. 345 - 354
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Allan, B. F., Tallis, H., Chaplin-Kramer, R., Huckett, S., Kowal, G., Musengezi, J., Okanga, S., Ostfeld, R. S., Schieltz, J., Warui, C. M., Wood, S. A. and Keesing, F. (2017). Can integrating wildlife and livestock enhance ecosystem services in central Kenya? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 15, 328–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bazarusanga, T., Geysen, D., Vercruysse, J. and Madder, M. (2007). An update on the ecological distribution of Ixodid ticks infesting cattle in Rwanda: countrywide cross-sectional survey in the wet and the dry season. Experimental & Applied Acarology 43, 279–291.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bock, R., Jackson, L., De Vos, A. and Jorgensen, W. (2004). Babesiosis of cattle. Parasitology 129, S247–S269.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Charles, G. K., Porensky, L. M., Riginos, C., Veblen, K. E. and Young, T. P. (2017). Herbivore effects on productivity vary by guild: cattle increase mean productivity while wildlife reduce variability. Ecological Applications 27, 143–155.Google Scholar
Cumming, G. S. (1999). Host distributions do not limit the species ranges of most African ticks (Acari: Ixodida). Bulletin of Entomological Research 89, 303–327.Google Scholar
Cumming, G. S. (2000). Using habitat models to map diversity: Pan-African species richness of ticks (Acari: Ixodida). Journal of Biogeography 27, 425–440.Google Scholar
Cumming, G. S. (2002). Comparing climate and vegetation as limiting factors for species ranges of African ticks. Ecology 83, 255–268.Google Scholar
Fyumagwa, R. D., Simmler, P., Meli, M. L., Hoare, R., Hofmann-Lehmann, R. and Lutz, H. (2011). Molecular detection of Anaplasma, Babesia and Theileria species in a diversity of tick species from Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 41, 79–86.Google Scholar
George, J. E., Pound, J. M. and Davey, R. B. (2004). Chemical control of ticks on cattle and the resistance of these parasites to acaricides. Parasitology 129(Suppl), S353–S366.Google Scholar
Georgiadis, N. J., Olwero, J. G. N., Ojwang’, G. and Romanach, S. S. (2007). Savanna herbivore dynamics in a livestock-dominated landscape: I. Dependence on land use, rainfall, density, and time. Biological Conservation 137, 461–472.Google Scholar
Gortazar, C., Diez-Delgado, I., Barasona, J. A., Vicente, J., De La Fuente, J. and Boadella, M. (2014). The wild side of disease control at the wildlife-livestock-human interface: a review. Frontiers in Veterinary Sciences 1, 27.Google Scholar
Keesing, F., Brunner, J., Duerr, S., Killilea, M., Logiudice, K., Schmidt, K., Vuong, H. and Ostfeld, R. S. (2009). Hosts as ecological traps for the vector of Lyme disease. Proceedings. Biological sciences/The Royal Society 276, 3911–3919.Google Scholar
Keesing, F., Allan, B. F., Young, T. P. and Ostfeld, R. S. (2013). Effects of wildlife and cattle on tick abundance in central Kenya. Ecological Applications 23, 1410–1418.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kimuyu, D. M., Veblen, K. E., Riginos, C., Chira, R. M., Githaiga, J. M. and Young, T. P. (2017). Influence of cattle on browsing and grazing wildlife varies with rainfall and presence of megaherbivores. Ecological Applications 27, 786–798.Google Scholar
Lott, F. C., Christidis, N. and Stott, P. A. (2013). Can the 2011 East African drought be attributed to human-induced climate change? Geophysical Research Letters 40, 1177–1181.Google Scholar
Lyon, B. and DeWitt, D. G. (2012). A recent and abrupt decline in the East African long rains. Geophysical Research Letters 39(2).Google Scholar
Madder, M., Speybroeck, N., Brandt, J., Tirry, L., Hodek, I. and Berkvens, D. (2002). Geographic variation in diapause response of adult Rhipicephalus appendiculatus ticks. Experimental & Applied Acarology 27, 209–221.Google Scholar
McSweeney, C., New, M. and Lizcano, G. (2010). UNDP Climate Change Country Profiles: Kenya. Available: http://country-profiles.geog.ox.ac.uk/.Google Scholar
Miller, R. S., Farnsworth, M. L. and Malmberg, J. L. (2013). Diseases at the livestock-wildlife interface: status, challenges, and opportunities in the United States. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 110, 119–132.Google Scholar
Minjauw, B. and McLeod, A. (2003). Tick-borne diseases and poverty. The impact of ticks and tick-borne diseases on the livelihood of small scale and marginal livestock owners in India and eastern and southern Africa. Research report, DFID Animal Health Programme, Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, UK.Google Scholar
Nijhof, A. M., Penzhorn, B. L., Lynen, G., Mollel, J. O., Morkel, P., Bekker, C. P. J. and Jongejan, F. (2003). Parasites associated with mortality in the black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis). Journal of Clinical Microbiology 41, 2249–2254.Google Scholar
Ogutu, J. O., Piepho, H. P., Said, M. Y., Ojwang, G. O., Njino, L. W., Kifugo, S. C. and Wargute, P. W. (2016). Extreme wildlife declines and concurrent increase in livestock numbers in Kenya: what are the causes? PLoS ONE 11, 1–46.Google Scholar
Parola, P., Paddock, C. D. and Raoult, D. (2005). Tick-Borne rickettsioses around the world: emerging diseases challenging old concepts. Clinical Microbiology Reviews 18, 719–756.Google Scholar
Perry, B. D. and Young, A. S. (1995). The past and future roles of epidemiology and economics in the control of tick-borne diseases of livestock in Africa: the case of theileriosis. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 25, 107–120.Google Scholar
Randolph, S. E. (1993). Climate, satellite imagery and the seasonal abundance of the tick Rhipicephalus appendiculatus in Southern Africa: a new perspective. Medical and Arid Veterinary Entomology 7, 243–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Randolph, S. E. (1994). Population dynamics and density-dependent seasonal mortality indices of the tick Rhipicephalus appendiculatus in eastern and Southern Africa. Medical and Veterinary Entomology 8, 351–368.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Randolph, S. E. (1997). Abiotic and biotic determinants of the seasonal dynamics of the tick Rhipicephalus appendiculatus in South Africa. Medical and Arid Veterinary Entomology 11, 25–37.Google Scholar
Randolph, S. E. (2004). Tick ecology: processes and patterns behind the epidemiological risk posed by ixodid ticks as vectors. Parasitology 129, S37–S65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schulze, T. L., Jordan, R. A. and Hung, R. W. (1997). Biases associated with several sampling methods used to estimate abundance of Ixodes scapularis and Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodidae). Journal of Medical Entomology 34, 615–623.Google Scholar
Stafford, K. C. (1994). Survival of immature Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) at different relative humidities. Journal of Medical Entomology 31, 310–314.Google Scholar
Van Der Merwe, J. S., Smit, F. J., Durand, A. M., Krüger, L. P. and Michael, L. M. (2005). Acaricide efficiency of amitraz/cypermethrin and abamectin pour-on preparations in game. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 72, 309–314.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walker, J. B., Keirans, J. E. and Horak, I. G. (2005). The Genus Rhipicephalus (Acari, Ixodidae): A Guide to the Brown Ticks of the World. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Young, A. S., Groocock, C. M. and Kariuki, D. P. (1988). Integrated control of ticks and tick-borne diseases of cattle in Africa. Parasitology 96, 403–432.Google Scholar
Young, T. P., Palmer, T. M. and Gadd, M. E. (2005). Competition and compensation among cattle, zebras, and elephants in a semi-arid savanna in Laikipia, Kenya. Biological Conservation 122, 351–359.Google Scholar